8 replies to this topic

[Tweetypie]

Hi,

 

I have a Mini City 1991, that has been stripped 10 years ago, Body has been fully restored and resprayed. Then placed on axle stands. I purchased a rear subframe at the same time. I am now starting to rebuild (finally retired and have time !). I am struggling to align the locations for the locating bolts. I have fitted the front losely, but cannot seem to align the locations at the boot bolts. Is it just a case of trial and error or am I missing something? wrong rear subframe, twisted shell?

Would welcome any thoughts / advice 

[stuart bowes]

'fully restored' how and by who?  

 

basically did that involve a new boot floor and/or heelboard, in which case were the alignments done right

 

if you can get the 4 forward bolts in that's probably the worst bit out of the way, the vertical bolts into the boot floor are easier to redrill seeing as they are literally just holes.  but it depends how far out they are of course

 

that's all just speculation of course as we don't know the history of the rebuild, and really you should check alignments with string and plumb lines and so on before making a decision

 

are we talking about mm's or cm's

 

20/20 hindsight I know but would have been best to trial fit before paint really 

Edited by stuart bowes, 06 June 2024 - 11:19 AM.

[Heintz]

I assume that the subframe has been rebuilt with new rubbers? The reason for me asking is that although I agree with what Stuart has said, there are one or two other things to consider before you start drilling holes haphazardly. If you did replace the mounting rubbers, then it could simply be a matter of the rubbers being a little stiff and possibly the cause of your misalignment. I recently rebuilt a rear subframe on a '76 1098 (South African) and had the same trouble. I should probably add that I fitted poly bushes instead of the standard rubbers. The front four bolts fitted nicely but the ones in the boot were another story altogether. Bearing in mind that I didn't remove anything from the boot floor in terms of restoring/rust repairs, my bolts were still misaligned by approximately half a bolt (4mm). It took some fettling with a round punch to get it to sit right and allow for the bolts to slide through. The trick is to not fasten down the bolts until all of them has been installed.

 

I hope this helps a little. 

 

Good luck!

Edited by Heintz, 06 June 2024 - 12:13 PM.

[stuart bowes]

100% check before drilling for sure sorry if I left that a bit vague

True new rubbers / polys can cause issues

[mab01uk]

This is how it should go together once all mountings are aligned...

 

Fitting The Rear Subframe And Brakes

Edited by mab01uk, 06 June 2024 - 03:54 PM.

[humph]

I assume that the subframe has been rebuilt with new rubbers? The reason for me asking is that although I agree with what Stuart has said, there are one or two other things to consider before you start drilling holes haphazardly. If you did replace the mounting rubbers, then it could simply be a matter of the rubbers being a little stiff and possibly the cause of your misalignment. I recently rebuilt a rear subframe on a '76 1098 (South African) and had the same trouble. I should probably add that I fitted poly bushes instead of the standard rubbers. The front four bolts fitted nicely but the ones in the boot were another story altogether. Bearing in mind that I didn't remove anything from the boot floor in terms of restoring/rust repairs, my bolts were still misaligned by approximately half a bolt (4mm). It took some fettling with a round punch to get it to sit right and allow for the bolts to slide through. The trick is to not fasten down the bolts until all of them has been installed.

 

I hope this helps a little. 

 

Good luck!

 

I had exactly this on my Sidewalk when I fitted a new subframe.  I didn't use a round punch but did end up backing off the nuts that clamp the bushes to allow some movement & didn't tighten any of the frame to body bolts fully.  This gave quite a lot of movement, and then clamped everything up at the end once all the bolts were in their holes.

[Tweetypie]

Hi, 

Thank you for all the useful comments, all have helped my resolve !

 

The car was worked on by the Real Mini Company, had new floors - either side of the tunnel, new battery box, rear valance and . Heel board is orginal. I have now only 1 bolt  remaining. I am using  new MiniSpares rear subfframe kit with new rubber bushes ( Not Poly's). The last bolt is about 4 mm out. I have now backed off the rubber bush mountings and all other bolts are loose. As people have stated it seems a matter of brute force to manouvere the last bolt in 

Thanks again everyone

[coopertaz]

always a pain and need punch to align these but as advised with anything never tighten all bolts until fitted

[Tweetypie]

Hi,

All sorted ! just needed a strong bar as a lever to flex the new bush so I could get the bolt in. Now on to suspension